Reservation request

[Catherine1442]

Hi all,

I'm a new host.  We have blocked a few dates for personal reasons.  I just received a reservation request which overlaps our blocked dates.  Their departure date overlaps our first blocked day.  Any ideas what we can do?  Should we accept but let the guests know that we will be leaving early on that day?  Or...

Thanks for any suggestions.

PS  This is a rental room in our home.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Catherine1442 

There is a recurring calendar glitcin the airbnb software - try and explain to the guests and ask them to cancel the request.

[Catherine1442]

Thank you!!

[Sarah977]

@Catherine1442  It's not really a glitch. When you block days, what you are really doing is blocking nights. If you think of them as nights, it's less confusing. So say you blocked the 7th to the 10th, because you need to go out of town on the 7th. That means you're blocking the nights of the 7th through the 10th. Guest books the 3rd-6th. That means they are staying through the night of the 6th and checking out on the 7th.

[Catherine1442]

Thanks, Sarah!

[Kath9]

@Catherine1442, I don't really see what the problem is. As @Sarah977 has said, they are checking out on the morning of the night you have blocked. You could message them beforehand and ask what time they are expecting to check out so that you can 'plan your day' (most guests in my experience check out pretty early). If it turns out that they won't be checking out until after you are planning on leaving, you have a couple of options: a) Give them check out instructions and ask them to lock up when they leave or b) Ask if they would be OK with an early check out on that day and if that doesn't suit them, give them the option of cancelling or a refund of part of their fees in return for their early checkout.

[Catherine1442]

Thanks, Kath.  Guess I'm just suffering from newbie nerves. Appreciate your level-headed advice.

[Suzanne302]

@Catherine1442 

Just came to echo what @Sarah977  and @Kath9  have said. When you block a date, you are only blocking check-in on that date, not check-out.

[Catherine1442]

Thank you!